i own nothing, as i lost the auction on ebay to the Palladinos. well, i own alex, because he sprang fully formed from my little brain, but i own nothing else!
Years
Tristan's declaration had been the talk of the party after he left on Friday. Almost everyone who had been there was a member of the LDB or was eligible to become one, so they understood Tristan's full meaning. There was a long-standing tradition, dating back to when the LDB and its brother organizations at other institutions were just for men, of members laying claim to a woman they were interested in: basically of calling 'dibs'. No one else in the group could pursue her while that claim was present. And while members took a looser view of it now (mostly at the urging of the female members, who were definite on the point that they could make up their own damn minds, thank you very much), they still agreed that certain feelings had to be respected. Chasing after the person another member really cared for, male OR female, was bad. Very bad. Tristan had not only made it clear that Rory was his, by doing so he had effectively accused Logan of breaking that rule.
Alex had spent most of the evening, not dancing with his girl of the moment as he had been planning, but dealing with all of the people who were demanding to know exactly what Tristan had meant and what he intended to do. Tristan had been out of circulation for a while, but everyone knew who he was and who his father was, and they knew he could back his claim up with some serious financial might if he chose to. They didn't, of course, know what Alex knew about Tristan's relationship with his family, and he wasn't planning to tell them. But he was going to make sure that Tristan understood exactly what he had begun.
Tristan pushed the tray of rolls into the oven, closed it, and turned to look at his roommate. "What's your point?"
"I'm just saying, it's been how many years since you knew this girl? Years, Tris, not weeks, not months, but years! Do you really think this is a good idea?" Alex inquired from where he sat on the counter, out of the way. Tristan had been cooking for most of the afternoon, and Alex had been trying to reason with him for almost as long.
"Making her dinner? I think it's not a bad one- she'll be pretty unhappy if I offer her dinner and then fail to provide." Tristan smiled sardonically and leaned against the sink. "Besides, I'm pretty sure no one can object to my feeding the girl- old friends catching up over a meal, it's a perfectly innocent thing. Couldn't possibly effect her grade, especially since I'm cooking. Maybe I should be glad she's not grading me though…" he continued thoughtfully.
"You know perfectly well what I mean!" Alex said heatedly. "I know you know the rules, and I know you're just as entitled to use them as Logan is! But I don't think you realize what you're setting up here. He can make your life miserable!" he jumped off the counter and stood facing Tristan. "Logan has full access to his father's money. You don't! You have to work to buy coffee, how in hell are you going to be able to fight him? Ignoring the fact that he can whisk her off to Tahiti if he wants to, there's still the little fact that he can get you fired. He can make sure you don't get re-hired. He can make your life impossible- make you have to go back to your parents and beg them for money!"
Tristan straightened. "No. He can't. The only thing he can do is deprive me of coffee, fancy chocolate, trips to the movies. I can live without luxuries—I've done it before." He grimaced. "He can't even get me in trouble with my parents. My father will probably be a thrilled as hell when he hears I made a claim, a, might I emphasize, legitimate claim on a girl with a name he approves of. He'll be bragging to his buddies about the excellent match, what a planner I am. So he sure as hell isn't going to come down hard on me." He laughed bitterly. "He'll probably offer me a little reward. A fancy car for the good boy."
Alex nodded slowly. He had never understood how parents could be like the DuGreys, but he had seen the type, first in his schoolmates, and now with Tristan. They had spoken to him only three times in his entire tenure at Yale: once when he moved in, to tell him that if he failed, they would wash their hands of him, so he had better do well; once when he took his first job, to tell him that he had better not let any of their friends see him working, or there would be hell to pay; and the final time to tell him they were going to be very busy with travel and work, so he had better make other plans for the holidays. All of them. The only family member who had ever seemed to care for Tristan was his grandfather Janlen, who had died after his first semester at Yale. Unfortunately, he had never thought to change his will, so while he had left most of his money to Tristan, it was held in trust until he turned 25—and executed by his father. Tristan hadn't seen a penny of that money, and wouldn't until the day of his twenty-fifth birthday. Tristan had been avoiding this conversation all weekend, but now that he had made his case, Alex had to admit he had a point. As long as his basic needs were met, there was little Logan could do to hurt him.
"All right. I suppose you're right. But Tahiti?" Alex backed down somewhat.
"If Rory were the kind of girl whose head would be turned by a trip to Tahiti, I wouldn't want her anyway." Tristan said calmly. "But she isn't. She's special. Besides, I did some checking up yesterday. Logan's father isn't going to back him in anything. Logan's father—an unredeemable fathead and a boor, might I add—thinks Rory isn't good enough for him, and has been trying to break them up."
"Oh. Wow. Really?" Alex was surprised to hear it. Stephanie was a pretty efficient gossip, which was one of the reasons he liked her, and she hadn't said anything about this! "Where did you hear this?"
"Always go directly to the source. But when the source is out of reach, go to their roommate. I asked Paris Gellar." Tristan replied.
"Paris Gellar!" Alex's voice and eyebrows both shot up. "You're braver than I thought!"